In this newsletter | Ham & Egg Publishing | Saltheart RPG | Solarian Games Super Savage Systems | Tiger Wizard |
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Tiger Wizard Abattoir Hymnal Launching May 5th on Backerkit! |  | Abattoir Hymnal is an adventure for Old School Essentials Month set in the bloody Butchered Realm. Adventurers will plunge into the gory realm, most likely without their skin, in search of answers and to defeat the grotesque Skin Taker, Ahrakmadt.
If you love Hellraiser, Silent Hill, etc., you’ll probably enjoy this disgusting adventure! |  | | |
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Hambone! Hambone’s Fast Five: Featuring Tiger Wizard! |
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Ahoy!
Hambone here, reporting for duty, back with another creator spotlight. This week, I am stoked to introduce you to one of my favorite artists and creative minds in the hobby, Tiger Wizard. He is here to talk about Abattoir Hymnal, his contribution to OSE Month on BackerKit. So without further ado, here’s Tiger Wizard.
1) Tiger Wizard, introduce yourself to our readers and let them know what you do in the TTRPG hobby.
Hey Hammy, thanks for inviting me over for the fast five! I work as an illustrator, mapmaker, game designer, and editor in the indie TTRPG space. I love old sword-and-sorcery books, cats, and fried-chicken tacos!
2) You, alongside writer Doug Stroud, are currently crowdfunding Abattoir Hymnal (launching May 5th) on BackerKit. What’s the elevator pitch?
Okay, first. I hit the emergency stop button of the elevator. The lights go out, and an eerie blue light pierces the slim crack in the doors. Two pink, skinless hands reach through and open the doors, not on the 3rd floor, but into the dark under-realm of butchery. At this point, the skinless creature will sit down and let everyone on the elevator know that Abattoir Hymnal is a bloody adventure for 3rd-level characters that sees such gruesome sights as the Gore crawler (an intestine spider) and the Offal-spire (a singing tower of flesh), while seeking the creator of the skin-paged hymnal. If you love Hellraiser, Silent Hill, etc., you’ll probably enjoy this disgusting adventure! 3) This year’s OSE Month’s focus is on adapting the demonic for Old School Essentials. What was the design process like for you when approaching subject matter like this for such a streamlined system?
Pretty similar to the way I approach most projects. I start with a vibe or key element, and then work from there. The system rarely matters to me. At least, it doesn’t matter initially. As long as the core vibe fits within the system or setting, I don’t worry too much about the stats and stuff until the concepts are filled out. Then adjust for rules and such later. Having worked with and on OSE creators at Exalted Funeral has given me an intimate familiarity with them.
The bonus with Abattoir Hymnal was having a partner to bounce ideas off of and collaborate with. Donn is such a great writer to work with, and we are constantly running ideas like a loom, weaving them back and forth into a gross skin rug.
4) Having experienced the idea of demonic entities throughout books, cinema, games, and even TTRPGs, are there any themes here that will feel familiar or homages to the classics?
Oh, absolutely. The vibes we’re riffing off are heavily inspired by The Thing, Hellraiser, and Silent Hill. For the book’s overall look, we’re using a simple pink-and-blue color palette that I think will pump up the classic 80’s horror vibes. 5) Thanks for the chat, Tiger Wizard. Where can people find your stuff?
Thank you, Hambone! Abattoir Hymnal is live on BackerKit, and feel welcome to follow along with my mapmaking and goofy antics over on patreon.com/tigerwizard
Cheers. | | |
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| | Saltheart RPGWorking with established IP takes time: The story of The Smurfs |  |
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Three years ago, I wondered what was next after successfully Kickstarting BURN 2d6. I looked around the IP landscape and realized a wondrous thing, that the everyman of my childhood, the Smurfs, did not have a role-playing game. The Smurfs had adventures involving ghosts, dragons, spies, sickness, witches, wizards, robots, and aliens. What a great IP!
BURN 2d6 had made $3,724 on Kickstarter. For a nobody who was pitching a new tabletop roleplaying game system, I thought it was a pretty good haul. It paid for the art, but not my time. So, back to the Smurfs…
I reached out to Peyo (the company) in Belgium and began a conversation about obtaining the rights. I submitted a pitch deck with my business plan, and before you know it, Peyo agreed. They had a North American partner, Maestro Media, and asked that we talk and consider working together. I met with Javon Frazier, Maestro Media’s CEO, and we agreed that a collaboration would be a great idea.
The truth is, I am a part-time game designer, and this offer from Maestro Media alleviated many of my concerns about managing a large IP all by myself. So, we signed agreements and got started. I already had a draft copy of the game ready to go.
A Kickstarter followed as I continued to develop the game. A team of folks supported the work, folks like Jon Gilmour-Long and Jason Azevedo. The Kickstarter made $138,565, which was a heck of a lot more than BURN 2d6 made. Content development continued until everything was locked in and my writing task was complete.
By the time my pen was truly down, it was eighteen months before I had the game in my hands. Not only do I now have a cool product in my hands, but my first truly paid gig is also complete.
The Smurfs Roleplaying Game is really a better version of BURN 2d6, and I am grateful to Maestro Media and Peyo for letting me take on this beloved world of little blue imps three apples high. As the blogger Barking Alien wrote, Smurf’s a better game than it had to be. Check out the blog here: https://barkingalien.blogspot.com/2025/11/
More to come on a new project soon!
Kevin |
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| | Super Savage SystemsNeon Bastardz – Only 3 Days remain! |  | In the oozing wastelands of Bastard Urth, brave skumdogs enter a world of danger, mutants, slime, and Khaos! With every roll, your mission gets weirder. With every room, the danger gets grosser. Battle disgusting creeps! Grab radical loot! Survive brutal missions! And become the most legendary dirtbag the cassette-apocalypse has ever seen!
But beware… the Kickstarter ends soon!
Back Neon Bastardz now, before time runs out!
Neon Bastardz: Rad Adventures in the Forgotten Future! Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland Vibez. Mörk Borg Rulez. Meaning this puppy is fast, brutal, and if you’re not careful, will steal your lunch money! POGs Included!
Already backed? You can still help big time by sharing the Kickstarter with one weird friend, one Mörk Borg maniac, one zine goblin, or one tabletop mutant who needs more neon slime in their life. Let’s make these last 3 days loud! | | |
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| | Ham & Egg PublishingOf A Harmonious Nature – Die Before You Buy! |
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Ahoy!
First up, I just wanted to say thanks to everybody who has already supported my Dark Double Feature on BackerKit! THANK YOU!!! We’ve got 17 days left and can still use your support. With that said, I had a fun idea. Why not let you, dear reader, DIE BEFORE YOU BUY!!!
This campaign looks pretty cool, right? That said, looking cool is NEVER enough. I want to show you why the Dark Double Feature rules, and I want to do it LIVE.
Now, you might be thinking, “But I don’t usually get to play a game before I back it.” It’s a wild idea, I know, but stay with me here.
When I got into sales, I cut my teeth selling a high-end blender at big-box stores and on the State Fair circuit. I loved it because there was always a tangible connection between the crowd and me.
Such a thing doesn’t really exist anymore, right? Instead, what do we get? Ephemera and social media static.
It’s confusing, especially when you are considering plunking down your hard-earned money on a new game.
Luckily, I have a solution.
Come play Of A Harmonious Nature with me. No strings attached, no obligation to back this campaign.
Just pick a date and let me run you through a killer folk horror adventure, designed for the system that it’s perfect for: Shadowdark RPG.
All I can promise you is a good time and maybe, just maybe, you’ll survive your stay in Skogstrand.
At the end, I’ll even mail you a commemorative pin from the session.
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| | Solarian GamesGM hacks from the hardware store! |  | A while back, Jolly Blackburn (Knights of the Dinner Table) shared a photo of his “Box of Doom,” essentially a cash box he turned into a GM screen/tackle box by creating a miniature screen to put inside and keeping dice in the coin drawers.
That inspired me to think about my own GM tools. Anyone who’s been in one of my games at a convention will know that I have a lot of moving pieces, and by the end of the game session, I’m pretty disorganized. So I went looking for something that would solve the problem for me, a la Jolly’s Box of Doom.
Harbor Freight, for anyone who doesn’t know, is a discount hardware store (tool store, really) that’s got something of a cult following. Recently, they began selling miniature tool boxes that went viral for their low cost and bright colors. I picked one up to try out as a GM “tackle box.” It was pretty good, but the biggest drawback was that it had no handle, which made it hard to carry at a convention.
Happily, not long afterward, Home Depot got in on the trend by doing an exclusive product with Husky, their own take on the mini toolbox. This time, the build quality was a bit better, with drawers that moved more easily, but the important feature they included was an handle. Best of all, it’s about the same price – $19.99.
It’s got three drawers and a top compartment. That’s enough room for a ton of dice, some 25 mm miniatures, index cards, pencils, wooden cubes (more on those in a moment), and some Sharpies. It’s also a great place to put all the cool stickers I get from other game creators.
Now, on to the other cheap GM tool I’ve found – wooden cubes! |  | I usually run Top Secret at conventions, since we publish the game. Top Secret is not a minis game, it’s got some tactical rules in it for convenience, but it really isn’t built to be a minis skirmish game or anything. That being said, it’s good to know where your characters are sometimes in relation to others.
In the picture above, I’m running The Bank Job, which is part of our mission module, Forged With Fire. The players have to rescue a hostage from a bank where terrorists have taken over the building.
At our local Dollar Tree, they sell bags of little wooden cubes, about 40 for a dollar ($1.25 actually, ugh inflation). As it happens, you can write on them with a pencil, pen, or Sharpie. I grabbed them because I was in a hurry on the way to Rising Phoenix Con. As it turns out, they were the best $1.25 I’ve ever spent on gaming.
Each player got a cube with the initial of their character on it. The terrorists (Italian anarchists from “Punto Zero”) got a little anarchy symbol, and other things like hostages, cops, and even cameras and drones all get their own cubes.
They’re cheap, they’re plentiful, and endlessly flexible since you can just write something on the cube when it shows up in the game, even if you hadn’t planned on it beforehand. I was even able to hide information by writing on the bottom of the cubes, such as identifying which hostage was the secret agent they were trying to find.
I hope these tools are inspirational to you, and maybe you’ll even try them out for yourself. If you have any cool GM hacks of your own, or if you try these, please drop me a line at jayson@solariangames.com and share your experiences! |
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GameFace Con Baltimore, MD – May 23rd & 24 |
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Baltimore’s Annual Tabletop Game Convention at Peabody Heights Brewery 12 pm – 8 pm both days.
Meet creators, shop, and play tabletop RPGs and board games |
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NeonCon 3-D, Virtual Convention – May 23rd & 24 |
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NeonCon 3-D! May 22nd-23rd over on the Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland discord!!!
Come play Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland and all its offshoot games, as well as other indie RPGs and old out-of-print games!!!
Make sure to bring your 3D glasses! Each night we will show an old 3D movie!
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ModCon 2026 Northampton, MA – May 30th |
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Game submissions are open now, and badges are on sale for the first-ever ModCon.
It’s happening May 30th at the beautiful Smith College Conference Center in Northampton, MA. ModCon is a one-day convention dedicated to the modern-era genre of TTRPGs.
That includes games like…321 RPG • Call of Cthulhu • World of Darkness • Cyberpunk • Shadowrun • Marvel Super Heroes • Mutants & Masterminds • Delta Green • Savage Worlds • Burn 2d6 • Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland • WHPA and more!
It’s going to be a great day of gaming, dedicated to all kinds of settings in the 20th and 21st centuries, in worlds both like our own and very, very different. Sign up below, and we’ll see you there! |
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ArcaneCon Northampton, MA – October 16th & 17th |
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ArcaneCon is returning October 16th & 17th, 2026. Join us in a celebration of indie, old school, and old school-inspired RPGs, miniature games, board games, and more! ArcaneCon is Western Massachusetts’s premiere tabletop hobby convention! Game submissions will go live on March 1st! See more information at Tabletop Events. |
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Keep on emailing us at hello@analogunion.com to let us know what you’d like to see more of/less of and to share ideas. If you enjoy the Analog Union newsletter, please tell your friends to sign up at AnalogUnion.com. Until next time! —JHM |
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